Identifying Color Choices

Consider adding color to your website. When you first design your website, you usually choose a theme and build from there. The colors of your logo are a great place to start. But what if your just beginning, and you don’t really have official colors chosen? Great! Then you can begin to play around with different themes, and continue to work until a design and color combination looks pleasing to you.

Colors have so many different meanings. The best way to design is to choose colors that you are comfortable with. And choose colors that will appease your customers, and motivate them into buying from you.

Did you know men favor blue, and women favor red? A mix between the two – the color purple – is an excellent choice to solidify both. Green is a very strong, old world color. That’s why you see banks and financial companies use green. Primary colors are stronger than pastels. And children relate to purple more than any other color. Guess that’s why Barney is purple!

Consider your target audience when selecting your website colors. Who is your primary viewer? What do you want them to do on your website? Then build your color scheme around those desires. And add color throughout your site when you want your viewers to take action. Adding red to your site can be a great motivator.

Red

• Energy * Strength * Danger * Determination * Power * Passion * Desire * Love
• Red is a very passionate and extreme color. It should be used to highlight key points. It should be used to stimulate people into an action – such as a Buy Now button. 

Orange

• Enthusiasm * Happiness * Creativity * Attraction * Success * Encouragement
• Orange combines the energy of red, and the happiness of yellow. Orange has high visibility and can be used to attract attention to certain parts of your site. 

Yellow

• Energy * Joy * Happiness * Intellect * Cheerfulness * Attention
• Yellow attracts attention. It has a very warming effect. It is a lighthearted color, and can be used effectively for highlighting important points.

Green

• Growth * Harmony * Freshness * Fertility * Safety * Nature * Stability * Endurance
• Green is a color of safety and of stability. Green is a good color for money related sites. It is a good color for showing movement and directing people through a site, as green means go. 

Blue

• Depth * Stability * Intelligence * Confidence * Faith * Truth * Loyalty * Trust
• Blue is a masculine color, used to show precision and intellect. It is a calming color. 

Purple

• Royalty * Power * Nobility * Luxury * Ambition * Wisdom * Dignity * Mystery
• Purple is feminine, and is a preferred color of children. 

White

• Light * Goodness * Purity * Innocence * Perfection * Safety * Cleanliness
• White is associated with coolness and cleanliness, and can add a sense of simplicity to high tech subjects. 

Black

• Formality * Power * Elegance * Death * Evil * Mystery * Elegance * Prestige
• Black can give the perspective of strength and depth. Black is a difficult background color choice, but is very effective when displaying photographs.

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How can you make your website a little better? What are your visitors looking for? Think about what you look for in a website when you’re out searching online. The key to making a great website is to put your own impressions behind you. Ignore what you know about your business; instead, concentrate on what your visitors would want to know about your business. They are often times distinctly different. Use these five Dos and Don’ts as guidelines.

• Do use headlines. Headlines help engage the reader, and assist them in making their way through your site. Headlines are meant to provide something of interest to the reader, and motivate them to want to read on – and ultimately move to the next step.
• Don’t assume your visitor will take action today. 9 out of 10 website owners miss connecting with potential customers because they try and make the sale today. Instead, offer something of value to your visitor in return for capturing their email address.
• Do use testimonials from a variety of sources. Include a variety of real-life customers, well-known people in your industry, authors, and other important business people in your community.
• Don’t ignore who your customer is. Every audience expects a different functionality. A group of 20-something males with careers in computer programming will have different expectations than 40-something soccer moms. Build to capture the heart of your audience.
• Do test your material. The “build once” concept works fine for a brochure, but a website is meant to be updated regularly. Keep track of your numbers, and try adding new functions to your website at least several times per month.